Senn 600

fender23

Active Member
Anyone ever replace the stock cable with something else as an upgrade? If so, what did you use, and did you do it yourself or have someone else do it? I have a pair, and I see these come up with exotic sounding names on the cables, and wonder if I'm missing anything? My pair is probably 6 to 7 years old, have never been used too much.
 
I don't personally own a pair of HD600 but I've heard good things about the Cardas cable. Silver/black dragon is a more exotic cable to consider if you want to pay more. Of course you could always buy a HD650 cable. It really depends on how much you want to spend.

I've never had to recable yet but FWIR it doesn't seem too bad. I just wouldn't try it on your own if it's your first recable. Maybe recable some cheaper cans first to get a feel for it.
 
most senn phones have a plug in cable so you can experiment without much chance of damaging them and you can do quick cable changes too. I made a cable from 4 strands of phone wire braided, sounds pretty good to me but I didn't have the original cable to compare with.
Al.
 
IMO cables either don't matter or don't matter nearly enough to be so expensive (for anything, not just cans).

This might be totally off, but even if "better" cables had some magical difference, there is still the internal cable in the head phone itself, the one that actually connects to the drivers themselves that will be the same no matter what exotic cable leads into it (same goes for speakers of course). So unless you also "upgrade" that, you are just going to have an expensive cable going into the stock ones inside the can thus totally defeating the purpose (if there even is one).

IMO either save your money, upgrade your amp if you haven't already (or get an external amp if you haven't yet), or try another headphone around the same money as the one you have or a more expensive one.

My AKG 702's have a detachable cable and the only way I'll ever replace it will be if I damage it somehow (roll over it with my desk chair lol) or someone sends me some exotic cable for totally free to try.
 
Don't F with cables...

Save your money for a high quality amp/source imho...

I've owned 650's 3 times, 580's once and many other very high quality headphones and cables are maybe 1% of the equation.
 
I didn't think much of the cable debate until I listened to the senn 600 with the silver, blue, and black dragon one after the other. Check out head-fi.com for detailed info in many threads.
 
Hi, I have been listening to headphones for a long time. I have owned the HD600 twice and the HD580 twice as well. I sat down with over 12 cables from various manufacturers ranging from $20 (the stock cable in the HD650) to well over $350 exotic cable.

To me the two cables which improved the sound and it was not a night/day difference were the BlackSilver ofering by Headphile and 99.999% cryo silver by a company which I will not name since they have gone downhill and many are still waiting for their cables months after they paid for them.

Anyways the good thing is that the Headphile BlackSilver cable is not an ultra expensive one, say about $150 for a 6 foot long one. I will say that another way to open up the sound of the top end is to replace the foam in front of the driver w/ an streched section of a woman's stocking. Some users remove this foam and leave it "naked" but I would not do so for fear of damaging the driver.

Please remember we all hear diferently and what is good to me may not be so to you. Good luck.
 
I've followed the HD650 $12.50 upgrade lead and never looked back.
The Cardas "Smurf" upgrade maybe a better idea, but for the money I'd rather buy a good bottle of Scotch.
 
HD600 had a smaller gauge lead, the newer HD650 series evolved adding a little heavier gauge lead (which can be used with the 600 Series).
All of this in lieu of the madness of the Cardas "Smurf" upgrade @ $222.
The $12.50 Senn extra size lead makes sense and the Cardas "Smurf Upgrade" IMO is nutz (it is blue FWTW!)

.
 
I took your advice and installed the 600/650 factory wiring upgrade. My equipment is a Cambridge Audio 650C player, powered by a Marantz 2385. No headphone amp, just vintage right out of the receiver.

I listened to a couple songs on the original wiring, them listened to those same songs with the new wiring. My ears couldn't really tell a difference, so I probably saved myself 200 bucks over buying Cardas or somrthing costlier. I suppose the non-headphone amp is a variable that I cannot rule out as to sound improvement, but with my as-is equipment there was no appreciable difference switching to the heavier Senn 650 replacement wiring.

Test music was Collective Soul Dosage which seems to account for a lot of what I like in music: great riffs, solid bass, cutting edge vocals (almost to the point of where you either love 'em or hate 'em, no middle ground) and a driving tempo.

I like my heavier wire switch and even better that I didn't spend a bunch of cash to find that out - now for that Scotch............
 
Your front-end sounds great. Why concern yourself with a headphone amp? IMO you most likely would be frittering away your funds for no good reason.
If what you have on hand pleases you, what matters.
My Sonic Frontiers Line3 has been a keeper for years. Even after extended sessions with several headphone amp options, I continue to be unimpressed enough to spring for another preamp.
 
I will say that any can amps I've had (X-Head, EF-1, and M-Stage) have been significant improvements over my integrated amp's (cambridge audio azur 640 v2) headphone out, as well as any receivers (new or vintage) I've tried as well.

So, yea, with an amp you may more easily hear the difference between wiring "upgrades"...or not, since I still think it's a bunch of hooey (again, I haven't tried it myself so I can't say based off of personal experience, but that could just end up being placebo in any case).
 
I'm kinda on the fence. Waitin' to see Big Bill's report on his MP-301 amp for about 200 bucks. I really don't use cans that much so it would be hard to justify more than the $200 for an amp even if Bill reports that its the greatest thing since sliced bread. Everyone's rig is a little different so even if I dropped the cash I still could be without a significant sound upgrade, to me. So, I'll wait awhile more and see what develops.
 
If you want to get some info on amps, including many under $200 (especially used) check out Head-Fi.

I know what you mean, but I like to listen to headphones a lot, so some experimenting with "cheap" amps has been fruitful. I love the M-Stage (got it new for $250 shipped, think it's more now) and will be happy with it I think. My EF-1 is great too for a hybrid. I've got to sell that back! lol
 
I don't own the HD600, but am the happy owner of the HD650. I've had the HD650 for 10 years or so, and I finally had the opportunity to upgrade the cables from the stock cables to a set of Silver Dragon v3 cables from Moon-Audio. What a difference! The veil is lifted, clarity enhanced, and bass tightened up. And, this is right out of the box, with ZERO break-in time. If break-in is real, and these things get better, I'll be even more ecstatic!
 
I think cables can make an audible difference. Whether they should is another story. There are questions to ponder: are engineers who are capable of designing, voicing and building an excellent set of headphones incapable of providing it with an audibly suitable cable? If so why would that be? If they are capable does that then mean that any cable that sounds different is actually degrading the intended sound rather than the improving it?
 
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I think cables can make an audible difference. Whether they should is another story. There are questions to ponder: are engineers who are capable of designing, voicing and building an excellent set of headphones incapable of providing it with an audibly suitable cable? If so why would that be? If they are capable does that then mean that any cable that sounds different is actually degrading the intended sound rather than the improving it?
In the midst of my happiness, I wondered why Sennheiser didn't include a better cable with the HD650 - which, at the time I purchased it, was at, or near the top of their headphone product line. I mean, if someone is willing to spend $500 on a headphone, why not charge $600 and include a cable that didn't foist the infamous "Sennheiser Veil" on listeners?
 
In the midst of my happiness, I wondered why Sennheiser didn't include a better cable with the HD650 - which, at the time I purchased it, was at, or near the top of their headphone product line. I mean, if someone is willing to spend $500 on a headphone, why not charge $600 and include a cable that didn't foist the infamous "Sennheiser Veil" on listeners?

Is this veil inherent in the supplied cable and not the phones? If so is it possible the cable is voiced the way the engineers intend?
 
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